Strawberry season 2025 in Saxony: enjoyment despite price pressure and weather!

Strawberry season 2025 in Saxony: enjoyment despite price pressure and weather!

The 2025 strawberry season in Saxony has opened and fruit growers are optimistic. After a crisis year in 2024, which was affected by frost damage and unfavorable weather conditions, farmers are expecting a good harvest. A harvest of around 1,500 tonnes of strawberries is expected for the current year, although the cultivated area in Saxony has fallen to 175 hectares - a significant decrease compared to over 600 hectares in the 2000s and 208 hectares last year. This development results from rising wage and operating costs as well as price pressure from producers from southern Europe. The industry is also critical of the possible increase in the minimum wage from 12.82 euros to 15 euros, which could bring additional challenges. The price for a kilogram of strawberries in Saxony will be 10 euros in 2025, while a 500 gram bowl costs around 5 euros. Prices remain stable compared to the previous year and thus show a certain resilience in a difficult market environment.

As lr-online.de reports, around 70% of Saxon strawberries go to direct marketing and to self-pickers, while only 30% go to supermarkets reach. However, the latter are often busy with imports from countries such as Spain, Greece and the Netherlands, which puts additional pressure on the local market.

Challenges for strawberry farmers

Despite the challenges of frost during flowering and rain during ripening, strawberry farmers are confident of achieving a good harvest despite unfavorable weather conditions. A price increase for local strawberries is not only expected due to the weather. A new highlight of the strawberry season is the introduction of an honorary day for the German strawberry, which is celebrated on the third Friday in May. This could attract additional interest and more visitors to the fields.

In terms of consumption, it can be seen that the average Saxon consumes around 3.6 kilograms of strawberries per year. Extrapolated, this results in a total consumption of around 14.5 million tonnes of strawberries for Saxony. A high number that underlines the importance of strawberries as one of the most popular summer fruits. According to freipresse.de these figures reflect strong domestic demand.

Distribution of strawberry cultivation areas in Germany

A look at the cultivation structure in Germany as a whole shows that the area under strawberry cultivation has declined in recent years. In 2023, the cultivated area was 14,010 hectares, a decrease of almost a quarter compared to 2015. What is particularly noticeable is the significant decline in strawberries grown outdoors, while cultivation under protective covers has increased, which significantly increases yields per hectare. Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg are among the most important growing countries in Germany, with around 60 percent of the total cultivated area. This illustrates the growing trend towards intensification of cultivation and is another aspect that Saxon strawberry farmers must take into account in their planning in order to remain competitive, as ble.de shows.

The strawberry season therefore has significant dimensions and challenges, both for farmers, who have to deal with higher costs and price pressure, and for consumers, who value the fruit as a summer treat. Along the numerous strawberry fields in Saxony that invite self-harvesting, it remains to be seen how the harvest will turn out due to a variety of factors, including the weather.